The people of 1955 just don’t understand fashion like the people of 1985. Biff and his goons seem to think Marty McFly’s vest is some kind of life jacket, even though it’s the epitome of cool in 1985. Biff probably doesn't even realize that it’s the only clothing perfectly designed for activities like driving Doc Brown’s DeLorean through the fabric of time, going on a date with your mom from the past, or seeing what your kids are up to 30 years in the future. Then again, it’s hard to expect a guy who can’t even put together the simplest of metaphors to understand fashion from the future. But you've got more style sense than Biff, right? You know that a jean jacket, checkered shirt and vest (and maybe a time machine designed by your eccentric scientist best friend) are the only things you need to jump start your Back to the Future adventure. Back to the Future is a trademark and copyright of Universal Studios and U-Drive Joint Venture. Licensed by Universal Studios Licensing LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Was invited to an 80's themed party in September 2017. I decided to dress up as the lead character to what is arguably my all time favourite movie: Marty McFly from Back to the Future.

I looked into sourcing all the various items of Michael J Fox's costume with mixed results; the retailers I attempted would either indicate the items were discontinued or be stunningly expensive. So I looked up this set from Halloween Costumes.

To be honest I thought the price was a little steep but the costume offered is at least an official reproduction.

When the costume arrived, I must confess to being a little disappointed with the vest, which for some reason is NOT the one you see modelled in the picture on this site or indeed the photo on the packaging artwork for the costume. The vest is bright red, does not sport the black trim, the black zipper or the closeable pockets.

Also, my chest measurement is 43" so I opted for the costume set in large as suggested by the link to the sizing guidelines on the product page; unfortunately despite the length of the vest being long enough to drop reasonably below my waistline, I was unable to close the vest around me tight enough to engage the zipper. This was of little consequence of course as the character seldom had the vest zipped closed anyway.

The 'denim' jacket is actually pretty decent looking; I particularly like that it has pattern printed on the inside of the sleeves comparable to the real costume.

The grid pattern shirt also looks pretty good although I did think it could have done with being a couple of inches longer in the body (I had ordered large). The quality of the material felt a little cheap too.

I thought that the addition of the campaign flyer to 'save the clock tower' as well as the photograph that can create the illusion that Marty's siblings are being erased from history was a really nice touch.

To augment my costume, I sourced a basic Casio digital watch, a plum coloured Fruit of the Loom T-Shirt and a set of braces from Amazon as well as a set of 80's style Walkman headphones from ebay.

I even looked into hiring a DeLorean Time Machine... Which you can do! One of the best examples in the UK will cost you £250 to hire for your event but note that the car will be presented at your venue as though it were a guest... and no you don't get to drive it!

Although I'm not one for attending costume parties I must confess to it being a giggle. The genuine article clothing items are available online if you're prepared to put the hours in sourcing the retailers and of course part with insane sums of money for each individual piece. Despite its weighty price tag however, if you want to dress up as this character, this particular issue of the costume is the most cost effective way to do that... and you will ultimately forgive it for all its flaws that I've mentioned.